Monday, January 2, 2012

The party girl throws a party

While I usually show you the pretty parties I design for other people, I thought I'd give you a little peak into a lovely little dinner I designed for myself and my husband to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary. Surrounded by eighteen of our closest friends, we enjoyed a cozy wine dinner surrounded by hundreds of bottles of Italian vino at Valbella New York.

I definitely got a whole lot of quizzical looks from the restaurant staff when I asked for the room to be entirely empty (except for the wine, of course) so that I could bring in all of the materials I wanted. I've really been loving this great juxtaposition of rustic and modern, so I had to have these gorgeous farm tables from Party Rental Ltd so that I could pair them with my all-time favorite material... everything and anything black and shiny! Black plates and glassware, also from Party Rental, and the super-awesome black Victoria ghost chairs from Luxe Event Rental.

I had some white trough-like vases from a summer wedding, so I took out my handy high-gloss black paint and transformed them to fit the bill for this tablescape. I filled the four black vases with burnt fall-toned roses, dahlias, calla lilies, cymbidium and vanda orchids. To keep the look whimsical, I added small twists of black wire amidst the flowers.

The candles were wrapped with bands of champagne ribbon to add warmth, and my friend Ana Dolan created beautiful wine and dinner menus edged in black and detailed with a linked circle design at the top (I can't believe I forgot to photograph the AMAZING invitations Ana made... ugh!). Lovely calligraphy by Michael Weinstein marked each guest's seat.

Since my own wedding ten years ago, I have planned and designed hundreds of celebrations for clients, family and friends, but this is the first time that I was my own guest of honor. It was a little bit of indulgent fun and I enjoyed every minute of it... especially because I could share it with my partner-in-crime and world's most supportive husband.

A million thanks to my friend and talented photographer Allan Zepeda for these gorgeous pix!